lpetrich
Contributor
Ancient Earth globe -- select a city, then find where it was as the continents drifted.
I chose State College PA, where I grew up. It was high and dry in the Appalachian Mountains over all the Cenozoic and most of the Mesozoic, even when much of the low-lying land was flooded in the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and early Cenozoic. During the Permian and early Triassic, SC was near the equator. Earlier in the Paleozoic, SC was underwater in a shallow sea, and in mid-Southern latitudes. In the Ediacaran, SC was near the South Pole though it was at midlatitudes in the Cryogenian.
I tried that with San Francisco CA, and I could do so over the Cenozoic and Mesozoic, but not into the Paleozoic. That's because its continental rock did not exist back then. It was accreted some time in the early Mesozoic from an island arc.
I next tried St. Petersburg, Russia, which I visited when it was Leningrad, Soviet Union. It was high and dry over the mid to late Cenozoic, then drowned in the early Cenozoic and Cretaceous. It was high and dry again in the Jurassic and earlier, moving to midlatitudes in the Triassic, across the equator in the Carboniferous, and into mid southern latitudes in the Cambrian. In the Ediacaran, it was at high southern latitudes, and in the Cryogenian, near the equator again.
Where did your favorite places wander to over the eons?
I chose State College PA, where I grew up. It was high and dry in the Appalachian Mountains over all the Cenozoic and most of the Mesozoic, even when much of the low-lying land was flooded in the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and early Cenozoic. During the Permian and early Triassic, SC was near the equator. Earlier in the Paleozoic, SC was underwater in a shallow sea, and in mid-Southern latitudes. In the Ediacaran, SC was near the South Pole though it was at midlatitudes in the Cryogenian.
I tried that with San Francisco CA, and I could do so over the Cenozoic and Mesozoic, but not into the Paleozoic. That's because its continental rock did not exist back then. It was accreted some time in the early Mesozoic from an island arc.
I next tried St. Petersburg, Russia, which I visited when it was Leningrad, Soviet Union. It was high and dry over the mid to late Cenozoic, then drowned in the early Cenozoic and Cretaceous. It was high and dry again in the Jurassic and earlier, moving to midlatitudes in the Triassic, across the equator in the Carboniferous, and into mid southern latitudes in the Cambrian. In the Ediacaran, it was at high southern latitudes, and in the Cryogenian, near the equator again.
Where did your favorite places wander to over the eons?
